Altair Panopticon Visualization Guide 2019-10

Panopticon
Guide to Altair Visualizations

Version 17.5.0
October 2019
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Table of Contents
[1] Altair Visualizations .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
[2] Time Series Visualizations ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Candlestick Graph .................................................................................................................................. 3

Horizon Graph ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Line Graph ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Needle Graph .......................................................................................................................................... 8
OHLC Graph .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Order Book Graph ................................................................................................................................. 11
Percentage Area Graph ......................................................................................................................... 12
Price Bands Graph ................................................................................................................................. 13
Spread Graph ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Stack Graph ........................................................................................................................................... 15
Stacked and Grouped Needle Graph ....................................................................................................16
Time Series Scatter Plot ........................................................................................................................ 18
Time Series Surface Plot ....................................................................................................................... 20
Time Series Combination Graph ..........................................................................................................21
[3] Snapshot Visualizations ............................................................................................................................................... 22
Bar Graph .............................................................................................................................................. 22

Box Plot ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Bullet Graph .......................................................................................................................................... 25
Categorical Line Graph ......................................................................................................................... 26
Circle Pack ............................................................................................................................................. 27
Cross Tab Pivot Table ........................................................................................................................... 29
Dot Plot ................................................................................................................................................. 30
Donut Chart .......................................................................................................................................... 32
Donut Gauge Chart ............................................................................................................................... 34
Funnel Chart ......................................................................................................................................... 36
Heat Map ............................................................................................................................................... 37
Heat Matrix ........................................................................................................................................... 39
Map Plot ................................................................................................................................................ 40
Network Graph ...................................................................................................................................... 43
Numeric Line Graph .............................................................................................................................. 44
Numeric Needle Graph ......................................................................................................................... 45
Numeric Stacked Needle Graph ...........................................................................................................46
Pareto Chart .......................................................................................................................................... 47
Pie Chart ................................................................................................................................................ 49
Scatter Plot ............................................................................................................................................ 51
Geographic Scatter Plot ........................................................................................................................ 52
Shapes/Choropleth ............................................................................................................................... 53
Surface Plot ........................................................................................................................................... 54
3D Surface Plot ..................................................................................................................................... 56
Record ................................................................................................................................................... 57
Table ..................................................................................................................................................... 58
Ticker Tile ............................................................................................................................................. 59
Treemap ................................................................................................................................................ 60
Waterfall Chart ...................................................................................................................................... 62
[1] Altair Visualizations
Altair Panopticon Designer software supports a wide range of information visualizations,
including our well-known Treemaps, Heat Maps, Scatter Plots, Horizon Graphs, and a wide
range of other great visualizations designed for fast comprehension and easy interpretation of
static, time series, real-time streaming, and historic data sets.
As no one visualization is ideal for every purpose, the appropriate visualization for the
analytical task at hand must be used. Here are some general recommendations:
ANALYTICAL TASK RECOMMENDED

VISUALIZATION
Read numeric values quickly Table / Pivot Table

Performance against a KPI Bullet Graph, Tile, Ticker Tile,
Donut Gauge
Performance across a single variable for a small Bar Graph, Tile, Ticker Tile
number of data elements, with different magnitudes
Performance across a single variable for a small Dot Plot
number of data elements, each with similar
magnitudes
Performance across a single variable for a large Heat Map
number of data items
Performance across a single variable for a large Treemap, Circle Pack
number of data items, which have different importance
values
Performance across a hierarchical or grouped dataset Treemap, Circle Pack
Correlation between two categories of data Heat Matrix, Network Graph
Relationships between categories of data Network Graph
Correlation between two or more numeric data Scatter Plot
columns
Geographic correlations of data Map Plot
Geographic Scatter Plot
Correlation over both a single numeric data column Dot Plot
and various categories of data
Trending performance across ordered categories Dot Plot
Trending performance between two numeric variables Numeric Line Graph
Trending performance between three numeric Surface Plot (& 3D)
variables
Trending performance across time Line Graph
Time based Ranking Line Graph with Ranking Axis
Time Based Contributions Stack Graph
Time Based Correlations between time series Horizon Graph
Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 1

ANALYTICAL TASK RECOMMENDED
VISUALIZATION
Time Based Transactions Needle Graph

Financial Time Series Distributions Candle Stick or OHLC Graph
Auction Price & Interest/Volume Distribution Numeric Needle Graph
Geospatial Area Densities Shapes
Spread between two time series Spread Graph
2 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

[2] Time Series Visualizations
The ability to handle very large quantities of multivariate time series data is an essential
element in a complete visual analysis system. Panopticon Designer offers a range of
specialized data visualizations, including Horizon Graphs, Stack Graphs, and Line Graphs,
designed specifically to make analyzing historical data easier and more efficient. The
software's ability to connect to traditional row-oriented relational databases or column-
oriented databases is key to supporting fast, responsive multi-dimensional analysis of large
data sets. Our time series capabilities are especially important for users in global investment
banks, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, and exchanges.
Candlestick Graph
Candlestick graphs are a traditional financial visualization for display of time-based price
distributions. Specifically, for each time slice, they display:
 Opening Price
 Highest Price
 Lowest Price
 Closing Price
The Candle is filled if the closing price is lower than the open and empty if the closing price is
higher than the open.
The vertical line (or candle wick) displays the range of traded prices across the period.
Figure 2-1. A candle stick graph.
Figure 2-2. Close up of data points in a candle stick graph.

Horizon Graph
Horizon Graphs are a fantastic way to overview a large number of time series in a limited
rectangular space. Since this visualization packs the information in a line graph in 1/6th the
space through smart pre-attentive color encoding, it allows for an overview of a large number
of time series. Users can scan huge amounts of data points across all relevant time series and
immediately identify areas of concern that require closer scrutiny.
Our Horizon Graph visualization is particularly useful when you need to see a large number of
time series on a single screen. This makes it easy to compare trends and spot patterns that
would be very difficult or impossible to see in a standard report.
Figure 2-3. A horizon graph.
Figure 2-4. Starting with a line graph.
Figure 2-5. Creating color performance bands.

Figure 2-6. Inverting negative regions.
Figure 2-7. Collapsing the performance bands.
Figure 2-8. A horizon graph is finally created.

Line Graph
Line Graphs are easy to understand and are a great way to communicate important time-
based trends, clustering, and outliers.
They work especially well when comparing ten or fewer data sets (our Horizon Graph is a good
solution for displaying time series data with ten or more data sets).
Figure 2-9. A line graph
Figure 2-10. A line graph with stepped interpolation

Figure 2-11. A line graph with last values shown on a right aligned Y-axis
Figure 2-12. A line graph with last value and name shown on a right aligned Y-axis

Needle Graph
Needle Graphs display time-based transactions or occurrence frequencies, rather than time-
based trends. They are simply time-based Bar Graphs where each bar is located at a particular
time point on the axis.
They work especially well when combined with a Line Graph.
The most common use of a Needle Graph is when showing the trading volume for a stock,
typically underneath the price performance.
Figure 2-13. A needle graph
Figure 2-14. A needle graph in combination with a line graph.

Figure 2-15. A needle graph with full width needles in combination with an Order Book graph.

OHLC Graph
OHLC Graphs also display time-based distributions of price data. For each time slice, they
display:
 Opening Price
 Highest Price
 Lowest Price
 Closing Price
Similar to the Candlestick Graph, a vertical line defines the range of traded prices across the
period. However, in this case, the left notch determines the opening price and the right notch
determines the closing price.
Figure 2-16. An OHLC graph
Figure 2-17. Close up of data points in an OHLC graph.

Order Book Graph
The Order Book Graph displays an aggregated order book of prices and associated sizes across
time. For each time slice, it displays:
 Price (as Height)
 Tick Size (as Size)
 Order Size (as Color)
 Duration of Aggregated Orders at a given price (time period)
Figure 2-18. An order book graph displaying the top 10 levels of an orderbook across time
Figure 2-19. An order book graph displaying a forward curve across time.

Percentage Area Graph
A Percentage Area Graph is like a Treemap spread out over time; you can see how each
constituent part contributes to the total at any point in the time series. It is an excellent
choice for visualizing time series data when you are interested in seeing the relative
contributions for each data set in the series, regardless of the absolute total.
Figure 2-20. A percentage area graph.

Price Bands Graph
The Pricing Band Graph displays the variance or spread between two time-based metrics.
Each grouping defined in the breakdown will be displayed as a separate layer of the overall
graph, where typically color is used to display the category.
As it is expected that spread layers will occlude, the transparency is defaulted to 50% and can
be modified as appropriate.
Typical use cases include comparing the pricing bid offer spreads from multiple liquidity
providers.
Figure 2-21. A price bands graph with linear interpolation.
Figure 2-22. A price bands graph with stepped interpolation.

Spread Graph
The Spread Graph displays the variance or spread between two time-based data series.
Typical use cases include comparing a stock’s price performance to an Index or a bond’s yield
to a benchmark rate.
Figure 2-23. A spread graph with linear interpolation.
Figure 2-24. A spread graph with stepped interpolation.

Stack Graph
Stack Graphs let you visualize quantitative changes to several data sets over time, and you
can see how each data point contributes to the total. As with the Treemap the Height of the
stack relates Importance, while the color relates Urgency or variance.
Stack Graphs are a great way to look at revenue or gross profit figures over time across
several product lines. Stack Graphs are also good to use when you have up to ten or eleven
time series data sets to look at, especially for data sets that have a large number of data
points.
Figure 2-25. A portfolio stack graph.
Figure 2-26. An oil production stack graph.

Stacked and Grouped Needle Graph
Stacked and Grouped Needle Graphs display time-based transactions or occurrence
frequencies, similar to the standard Needle Graph.
It allows each transaction to be split into its components, allowing contributions to the total to
be viewed across time.
Common uses include splitting of transaction volumes by venue or by direction (Buy/Sell).
Figure 2-27. Samples of stacked and grouped needle graphs.
Figure 2-28. Stacked needle graph (Turnover by exchange).

Figure 2-29. Stacked needle graph (Buy and sell volume).
Figure 2-30. Stacked needle graph (Buy and sell volume - separated).
Figure 2-31. Stacked needle graph (Net volume through aggregation – Buy/sell).

Time Series Scatter Plot
Time Series Scatter Plots display time-based transactions, similar to the Needle graphs. Like
the scatter plot, it displays individual data points (or transactions), with a given numeric Y
value and a given timestamp X value.
Common uses include displaying transaction volume across time relative to the price at which
the volume was executed and displaying order book depth across time.
Typically, the graph is combined with line graphs to show the scatter points relative to defined
boundaries.
Figure 2-30 shows trade volumes and prices relative to the best bid and offer across time.
Figure 2-32. A time series scatter plot.
Figure 2-33. A time series scatter plot (Trade volume with best bid and offer).

Figure 2-34. A time series scatter plot (Top 20 Levels of Order Book).

Time Series Surface Plot
Time Series Surface Plots are used to identify trends and outliers within Time Series surfaces,
typically forward curves across time.
The Surface is made up of a series of points where each point has:
 Time Position
 Y Position
 Color (which represents the Z axis).
The color scale can be continuous or stepped to show a surface gradient.
The below figures show an Oil Futures forward curve, with prices relative to the front month.
Figure 2-35. A time series surface plot with continuous colors.
Figure 2-36. A time series surface plot with stepped colors

Time Series Combination Graph
The Time Series Combination Graph combines a series of time series visualizations as
individual layers of the total display. As a consequence, more complex time series
visualizations can be built from the “base” visuals.
Each visual can be assigned to either the left or right Y axes, allowing multiple scales to be
represented.
For example, the following visualization includes:
 Candle Stick Graph – Showing the distribution of prices (OHLC)
 Line Graphs – Showing moving averages of the closing price
 Needle Graph – Showing traded volume across the period
 Spread Graph – Showing a price band across the period.
Each of the visuals has a defined “Z” order, which in this case places from back to front:
Spread, Needle, Candle Stick, Line
Figure 2-37. A time series combination graph.

[3] Snapshot Visualizations
Some of the most common use cases for data visualization software require the system to
display information about a data set as it exists at a particular point in time. These “snapshot”
visualizations are extremely useful for understanding relative quantitative and qualitative
measures and enable users to gain a comprehensive understanding of very complex data sets
very quickly.
Bar Graph
Bar Graphs are probably the best-known visualization for quantitative data.
You can display Panopticon Designer Bar Graphs either horizontally or vertically. These graphs
are available in three variants:
 Standard
 Grouped
 Stacked
In each case, you can sort the layout of the bar graph according to your requirements, and,
with hierarchical data, the graph represents the netted position at each aggregated depth
level.
You can also use the Bar Graph visualization to display demographic data in so-called Tornado
Charts or Population Pyramids.
Figure 3-1. A horizontal bar graph.

Figure 3-2. A standard bar graph.
Figure 3-3. A grouped bar graph.
Figure 3-4. A stacked bar graph.
Figure 3-5. A stacked bar graph showing a tornado chart layout.
Box Plot
Box Plots are designed to display numeric distributions.
The plot draws the Minimum, 25th Percentile, Median, 75th Percentile, and Maximum of the
specified measure by category.
This can be provided as a single measure, where Panopticon performs the aggregation.

Or as separate measures for each component of the box plot, where the data source performs
the aggregation.
Figure 3-6. A Box Plot of Price Performance Distributions by Industry.

Bullet Graph
Bullet Graphs were designed by Stephen Few to remove unnecessary clutter and instead focus
on visualizing metrics like Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Research has shown that Bullet Graphs are easier to interpret in less time than the radial
gauges or speedometers often seen in BI dashboards.
Figure 3-7. A horizontal bullet graph.

Categorical Line Graph
Line Graphs are easy to understand and are a great way to communicate important time-
based trends, clustering, relative performance and outliers.
However, on occasion the axis is not time, but instead categorical. In this case a categorical
line graph is used.
Figure 3-8. A business period categorical line graph

Circle Pack
Circle Packs represent hierarchical data sets, showing both each level in the hierarchy and how
they interact with each other. They are consequently used for identifying patterns of
performance, and outliers within peer groups.
They are represented by a colorful mosaic of enclosed circles based on your data. The size of a
circle reflects its importance. The color conveys urgency or variance.
Circle Packs can also be cross tabbed, and offer an alternative to the Heat Matrix, with the
added benefit of having both a size (typically relating to importance), and a color variable
(typically related to performance variance).
Most people can learn to understand the information presented in a Circle Pack in under a
minute – even if that Circle Pack is showing data representing an underlying data set of
thousands of records.
A recommended alternative to the Circle Pack is the Treemap, which can display a larger
number of data points, and is easier to compare constituent data points.
Figure 3-9. A flat Circle Pack –Showing Outer Circle with aggregate color.

Figure 3-10. A flat Circle Pack –Hiding Outer Circle.
Figure 3-11. A Hierarchical Circle Pack –Showing Outer Circle.

Figure 3-12. A Hierarchical Circle Pack – Hiding Outer Circle.
Figure 3-13. A Cross Tabbed Circle Pack – Showing Correlation of Industries to Countries
Cross Tab Pivot Table

Although selected visualizations can be cross tabbed into small multiples, each showing
subsets of the original data set, the Cross Tab can itself be used to display a Pivot table.
Pivot Tables support a single numeric value being represented at the cross point of hierarchical
rows and columns.
Each intersection cell can display the aggregated numeric value and its associated color range,
which can be subdued or intense. Numeric labels can also be removed to produce a Heat
Matrix.
Figure 3-14. A pivot table with subdued colors.
Figure 3-15. A pivot table with intense colors.
Dot Plot
Dot Plots have two primary use cases:
 A more effective alternative to a Bar Graph
 A distribution display similar to a Scatter Plot
Dot Plots are an effective alternative to Bar Graphs, particularly in cases where the data being
analyzed contains many similar numeric values.
In comparison with the Bar Graph, Dot Plots do not use a zero baseline and are less cluttered.
This makes it easier to add additional data variables to the visualization.

Figure 3-16. A sample horizontal bar graph showing revenues versus forecasts.
Dot Plots can also be used to represent data distributions in which one axis is numeric while
the other axis is categorical. Scatter Plots using such data sets can be misinterpreted; Dot
Plots of the same data are unambiguous and easy to understand.
Figure 3-17. A dot plot of revenues versus forecasts
Figure 3-18. A distribution dot plot.

Donut Chart
Donut Charts are a derivative of the pie chart and are used in the same manner for displaying
contributions to a total.
Panopticon Designer can produce standard Donut Charts in which the donut slice represents a
numeric variable that is proportional to the total size of the donut. The color variable can
represent either a category or another numeric variable.
Donut Charts can be flat, showing a single set of slices. They can also be hierarchical and
display multiple levels of data in a variant called a Multilevel Donut Chart.
A recommended alternative to the Donut Chart is the Treemap, which can display a larger
Figure 3-19. A typical Donut chart.
Figure 3-20. A multilevel Donut chart

Figure 3-21. A multilevel Donut chart with deeper hierarchy, and numeric color variable

Donut Gauge Chart
Donut Gauge charts display percentage of total based metrics like Key Performance Indicators
(KPI), and support values between 0 and 100%.
They remove unnecessary clutter and instead focus on best displaying the metric and provide
an alternative to the Bullet graph.
Panopticon Designer can produce standard Donut Gauge Charts in which the slice angle
represents a percentage.
The color variable can represent either a category or another numeric variable.
Donut Gauge Charts can be individual, or displayed in cross tabs, highlighting differences
between items.
An alternative visualization to the Donut Gauge to highlight differences between items and
contribution to the total may be the Treemap.
Figure 3-22. Cross Tabbed Donut Gauge (with No Color)
Figure 3-23. Cross Tabbed Donut Gauge (with Categorical Color)

Figure 3-24. Donut Gauge Cross Tabbed into Rows & Columns

Funnel Chart
Funnel Charts are a type of Bar Graph, often used to represent stages in a sales process or
order fulfillment process and can show the amount of potential revenue for each stage.
This type of chart can be useful in identifying potential problems in an organization's sales
process.
Color can be used to represent either a Stage in the process, or the change in performance for
that stage against a prior period.
Alternatives to the Funnel Chart would be a simple Bar Graph, or a Stacked Bar Graph.
Figure 3-25. Funnel Chart with Color showing Stage in the Funnel
Figure 3-26. Funnel Chart with Color showing Change in Performance

Heat Map
A Heat Map is a special type of color-based data visualization that is well suited for analyzing
large flat data volumes using an intuitive graphical display. Heat maps are good at
representing large numbers of data points in ways that would be unwieldy and hard to
interpret using traditional tables or charts.
A Heat Map represents each item in the data set as an equally-sized cell, unlike a Treemap
that uses the size of the box to represent a qualitative value and location to represent
hierarchical relationships. In a Heat map, the color of the square represents a quantitative
value relative to the other boxes in the Heat map, while the location can represent the sorting
of another quantitative or categorical value. This allows the analyst to see all of the data items
simultaneously. The user can also hover over any item to bring up more detailed information
on demand.
Figure 3-27. A heat map without sorting.

Figure 3-28. A heat map with sorting.

Heat Matrix
A Heat Matrix is similar to both the Heat Map and Treemap in that it displays many different
data items and represents the value for each item using colors. However, unlike its cousins,
the Heat Matrix has a defined structure where two data attributes define each axis, thus
producing a correlation matrix. Within the Heat Matrix, each column and row represent a
unique attribute, and the point where two items intersect represents a unique combination of
the two attributes.
The matrix can display labels within each intersecting tile or simply display color.
Our Heat Matrix data visualization helps our clients identify correlations within their data sets
using an intuitive graphical display.
Figure 3-29. A heat matrix.
Figure 3-30. An FX cross rates heat matrix.

Map Plot
Use Map Plots to display geographic data, where you have longitudes and latitudes associated
with individual data points. These plots clearly show data correlations and clustering that is
geographic in nature.
In a Map Plot, the visualization expects Latitude and Longitude measures to be associated. It
will then retrieve from the selected map tile provider the appropriate background map to
display under the data points. This background map is constructed by retrieving individual
map tiles at set zoom levels.
As the background map is provided automatically, it relies on:
 A range of supplied longitudes & latitudes to provide a bounding area
 An active Internet connection to retrieve the map tile images
Panopticon ships with a number of cross reference datasets to determine the appropriate
latitude/longitude for datasets. These have been provided through subsets of the data
available at GeoNames.org. ( http://www.geonames.org )
More detailed geo-coding data is available from this website, and many others.
Zooming into the map will cause, new map tiles to be retrieved, and a new background map
image behind the data points to be displayed. For example, increasingly zooming into
Northern Europe would produce:
Figure 3-31. Map Plot of each country globally.

Figure 3-32. Map Plot of Europe.
Figure 3-33. Map Plot of the Netherlands, Belgium and surrounding countries.

Figure 3-34. Map Plot of Antwerp and the surrounding area

Network Graph
A Network Graph displays relationships between entities and can be used to identify
correlations or flows between items.
The Network graph supports a two-level breakdown defining the “From”, and “To”, where each
node (vertex / point), is either in the “From”, or “To” levels of the breakdown, and each edge
(or line), represents the data specific to this “From  To” relationship.
The size of the node is specific to the number of interactions / relationships it has with other
nodes. There can be up to two lines connecting two nodes, which can display arrows to show
direction; and represent the “From  To” combinations. E.g. A  B, and B  A. Each line
can also be colored to map to a numeric variable.
Customers use network graphs for investigating correlations, transactional flows, latency, and
throughput bottlenecks.
Figure 3-35. A Network Graph of Funds, and their constituent correlation

Numeric Line Graph
Numeric Line Graphs differ from the standard line graph in that they have a numeric X axis,
rather than one based upon time.
They are commonly used in both scientific and financial scenarios to show trends in functions
that are based on two numeric inputs (X and Y).
Common uses include the display of Yield Curves.
Numeric Line Graphs can also be used to display selected cuts through a Surface Plot.
Figure 3-36. A numeric line graph.
Numeric Line Graphs can also be displayed on their side through a Vertical Numeric line
Graph. These graphs are typically used in the Oil Industry for displaying drill sensor data.
Figure 3-37. A Vertical numeric line graph.

Numeric Needle Graph
Numeric Needle Graphs display price distributions.
Unlike a traditional Bar Graph, the X Axis is numeric rather than categorical. Bars are
positioned along the X axis according to their X value, and their height is determined by their
Y values. For the Horizontal variant, the X Axis represents the height, and the Y axis the price.
This allows gaps, and clustering in price to be more accurately identified, and are typically
used for displaying price distributions and order book displays.
Figure 3-38. A numeric needle graph.
Figure 3-39. A horizontal numeric needle graph.

Numeric Stacked Needle Graph
Numeric Stacked Needles again display price distributions.
Unlike the standard Numeric Needle Graph, multiple items can be identified at a single price.
A common usage is displaying client activity within an order book.
Figure 3-40. A separated numeric stacked needle graph.
Figure 3-41. A numeric stacked needle graph.

Figure 3-42. A horizontal numeric stacked needle graph.
Pareto Chart
The Pareto Chart is a combination of the Bar Graph and Categorical Line Graph, and can be
used for comparing actuals to forecasts, and if the dataset is available, comparing individual to
cumulative returns.
The traditional usage of a Pareto chart displays individual values in a descending order as
bars, with the cumulative total represented by the line.
Figure 3-43. A classical Pareto graph.
A common usage of the Pareto chart is to compare actual values to forecast/target values,
with the actuals being displayed as the bar, and the forecast as the line. In this scenario,
typically both measures are bound to the left Y axis, so that they have comparable scales.

Figure 3-44. Displaying actuals vs. forecast values

Pie Chart
Pie Charts are one of the oldest and best-known visualizations for displaying contributions to a
total.
Panopticon Designer can produce standard Pie Charts in which the pie slice represents a
numeric variable that is proportional to the total size of the pie. The color variable can
represent either a category or another numeric variable.
Pie Charts can be flat, showing a single set of slices. They can also be hierarchical and display
multiple levels of data in a variant called a Multilevel Pie Chart. This is also known as a Sun
Burst or a Radial Treemap.
The user can modify the visible depth level and drill into particular slices to investigate further
detail.
A recommended alternative to the Pie Chart is the Treemap, which can display a larger
Figure 3-45. A typical pie chart.

Figure 3-46. A multilevel pie chart (Sun burst).
Figure 3-47. A multilevel pie chart with deeper hierarchy.

Scatter Plot
Scatter Plots are used to identify trends, clustering and outliers across a number of numeric
variables, especially when investigating large data volumes.
Each scatter point is represented by:
 X Position
 Y Position
 Size
 Color (numeric or categorical)
A line of best fit can also be added to highlight outliers.
Panopticon Designer's Scatter Plot data visualizations are easy to set up and highly
customizable. You can configure your display in ways that will make the most sense to you
and your users, and users have all the tools they need to filter and manipulate the Scatter Plot
to concentrate on the most relevant subsets in the data.
Figure 3-48. A scatter plot with line of best fit.
Figure 3-49. A scatter plot with square scatter points.

Geographic Scatter Plot
Use Geographic Scatter Plots to display data where physical location is important, and the
background map image can be manually provided. These plots clearly show data correlations
and clustering that is geographic in nature, and typically used for non-standard mapping.
If a standard map is required, then it is likely that the Map Plot should be used instead.
In Geographic Scatter Plots, the X and Y coordinates can correspond to longitude and latitude.
The color and size of each scatter point represent other data variables.
As with standard statistical Scatter Plots, you can zoom and pan within the visualization to
focus on specific areas of interest, but the underlying map image will not change.
As the background map image is manually provided, the visualization can be used for non-
traditional maps, such as internal floor plans.
Figure 3-50. A geographic scatter plot.

Shapes/Choropleth
The Shapes visualization allows the display of Choropleth Graphs and other displays built from
SVG Paths.
The Shapes visualization can be used to display data where both physical location and size are
important.
They clearly show data correlations and clustering that is geospatial in nature.
Unlike the Geographic Scatter Plot, the size of each shape is fixed, imparting the importance
of the item. As a consequence, data should be relative to each shape size, such as area
densities.
Figure 3-51. A shape visualization.

Surface Plot
Surface Plots are used to identify trends and outliers within numeric surfaces.
The Surface is made up of a series of points where each point has:
 X Position
 Y Position
 Color (which represents the Z axis).
The Surface Plot can support data sets where the X and Y positions can both be regular and
irregular in their distribution.
Additionally, the color scale can be continuous or stepped to show a surface gradient.
Figure 3-52. A surface plot with stepped colors.

Figure 3-53. A surface plot with continuous colors.

3D Surface Plot
3D Surface Plots are a 3D perspective version of the 2D Surface Plot.
They provide a clearer understanding of the overall “shape” of the surface but they also
introduce occlusion problems; not all data points can be seen due to the display perspective.
The Surface Plot 3D is made up of a series of points where each point has:
 X Position
 Y Position
 Z Position (encoded by color)
The Surface Plot 3D can support data sets where the X and Y positions can both be regular
and irregular in their distribution.
The color scale can be continuous or stepped to show a surface gradient.
Grid lines, a ground plane, and markers for data points can be shown if required.
Figure 3-54. A 3D surface plot with stepped colors.
Figure 3-55. A 3D surface plot with continuous colors.

Record
A record visual is effectively a transposed table and can be used to display the metrics for one,
or a few individual records (or aggregated records).
Like the table, metrics are added to “Visual Members”, but correspond to rows in the record
(rather than columns in a table).
Row cells display their text value which may wrap into multiple lines.
Text can be colored either with a background or foreground.
Figure 3-56. A Record showing a single set of aggregated metrics.
Figure 3-57. A Record visual showing multiple sets of aggregated metrics.

Table
A table can be used to display a small dataset where all the values are visible or the aggregate
values of a larger data set.
The table can be configured to show hierarchies, allowing sub totals and grand totals to be
displayed. Additionally, branches of the hierarchy can be expanded and collapsed.
The table can be sorted by clicking on a column heading, and sorting is applied across the
defined hierarchy.
Columns widths can be adjusted manually or automatically, and columns can be hidden when
required.
Columns cells can be represented in their value form or, alternatively, graphically as a series
of micro-charts including:
 Bullet Graph
 Bar Graph
 Dot Plot
Figure 3-58. A simple table.
Figure 3-59. A table with hierarchy, totals, and micro-charts.

Ticker Tile
The Ticker Tile is used to display three metrics, typically:
 Price
 Change in Price
 % Change in Price
Where the price is displayed in a double height label, the change in price to the bottom left of
the tile, and the color shown as the background of the tile, and the numeric value displayed in
the bottom right of the tile.
Icons can also be added to the tile to indicate the change in other metrics.
As with all visualizations, as data changes the tile will automatically update.
Figure 3-60. A Ticker Tile for a single stock.
Figure 3-61. A Cross Tab of Ticker Tiles for a Selection of Stocks

Treemap
Treemaps represent hierarchical data sets, showing both each level in the hierarchy and how
they interact with each other.
They are represented by a colorful mosaic of rectangular cells based on your data. The size of
a cell reflects its importance. The color conveys urgency or variance:
 White – Target/Benchmark Performance
 Red – Under Performance
 Blue – Over Performance
The intensity of the red or blue shades indicates the level of under- or over-performance.
Most people can learn to understand the information presented in a Treemap in under a
minute – even if that Treemap is showing data representing an underlying data set of
thousands of records.
Our Treemaps are not static pictures. The real value of the visualization is quickly apparent
when you interact with the data. Users can zoom, filter, and view details on demand, as well
as link to and highlight other sources of information. For example, fund managers can link to a
trading system directly from within the Treemap.
EX supports two different styles of Treemaps:
 Classic Treemaps
 Cluster Treemaps
Figure 3-62. Classic Style Treemap

Figure 3-63. Cluster Style Treemap

Waterfall Chart
Waterfall Charts are a form of cumulative Bar Chart, showing the cumulative effect across a
series of changes.
They can aid in the understanding of how performance changes contribute to a final position.
Color can be used to represent either a Stage in the process, or the change in performance for
that stage.
Figure 3-64. A Waterfall Chart with categorical color and cumulative performance value labels
Figure 3-65. A Waterfall Chart with color and value labels showing performance change

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Panopticon

Guide to Altair Visualizations

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[2] Time Series Visualizations ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Candlestick Graph .................................................................................................................................. 3

[3] Snapshot Visualizations ............................................................................................................................................... 22

Bar Graph .............................................................................................................................................. 22

ANALYTICAL TASK RECOMMENDED

Read numeric values quickly Table / Pivot Table

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 1

Time Based Transactions Needle Graph

2 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 2-1. A candle stick graph.

Figure 2-2. Close up of data points in a candle stick graph.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 3

Figure 2-3. A horizon graph.

Figure 2-4. Starting with a line graph.

Figure 2-5. Creating color performance bands.

4 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 2-7. Collapsing the performance bands.

Figure 2-8. A horizon graph is finally created.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 5

Figure 2-9. A line graph

Figure 2-10. A line graph with stepped interpolation

6 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 7

Figure 2-13. A needle graph

Figure 2-14. A needle graph in combination with a line graph.

8 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 9

Figure 2-16. An OHLC graph

Figure 2-17. Close up of data points in an OHLC graph.

10 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 11

Figure 2-20. A percentage area graph.

12 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 2-21. A price bands graph with linear interpolation.

Figure 2-22. A price bands graph with stepped interpolation.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 13

Figure 2-23. A spread graph with linear interpolation.

Figure 2-24. A spread graph with stepped interpolation.

14 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 2-25. A portfolio stack graph.

Figure 2-26. An oil production stack graph.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 15

Figure 2-27. Samples of stacked and grouped needle graphs.

Figure 2-28. Stacked needle graph (Turnover by exchange).

16 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 17

Figure 2-32. A time series scatter plot.

18 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 19

Figure 2-35. A time series surface plot with continuous colors.

Figure 2-36. A time series surface plot with stepped colors

20 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 2-37. A time series combination graph.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 21

Figure 3-1. A horizontal bar graph.

22 Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0

Figure 3-3. A grouped bar graph.

Figure 3-4. A stacked bar graph.

Figure 3-5. A stacked bar graph showing a tornado chart layout.

Guide to Altair Panopticon Visualizations 17.5.0 23

Figure 3-6. A Box Plot of Price Performance Distributions by Industry.